As Durham and Orange counties get closer and closer to having a more concrete idea of the future of mass transit here, some residents are concerned light raile might not be the right thing for the community.

An iconic area furniture store celebrated its grand opening at a new location Saturday, drawing crowds and special guests. Kimbrells’s Furniture, which has been situated in downtown Durham for 83 years, celebrated its move to the former Kmart building at 2000 Avondale Drive with a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Mayor Bill Bell.

Education leaders, teachers, artists and administrators will gather in Durham at the Carolina Theatre from Monday through Wednesday (Aug. 3-5) to celebrate two decades of the A+ Schools Program, which uses the arts as the foundation for teaching and learning in all subjects.

Like most large enterprises, UNC is no stranger to using long-term debt to finance construction, repairs and other major investments. But it has yet to dip a toe into a relatively new type of borrowing other top universities are using, 100-year, “century” bonds with payback periods that stretch out much longer than traditional bonds.

Months have passed since planning for the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit system began, and it’s going to be years before the system will be operational, yet residents in Durham and Chapel Hill have yet to be sold on the project.

Numerous food trucks lined up in Research Triangle Park Friday, drawing in crowds to donate school supplies to help “fill that bus.” “The ‘fill that bus’ initiative is just a giant drive for school supplies,” said Julie Marshall, executive director for Crayons2Calculators, the organization responsible for the drive. “We’ve got a goal of $120,000 worth of supplies and with about two weeks to go I’d say we’re halfway there.”

If you’ve never seen a black bear playing with a watermelon, Monday, Aug. 3 is the day to visit the Museum of Life + Science. The museum on Murray Avenue celebrates Watermelon Day then with special animal programs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Shelley Reaves was a daily customer at the Joy Mart on North Roxboro Street, just off Interstate 85. She knew the clerk usually behind the counter, Amer Mahmood, 48, a man she described as very kind. Mahmood was shot and killed during a robbery July 4. On Thursday evening, Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham held a prayer vigil in the parking lot of the store.